Forbes recently published their list once again of the richest people in the US. On top of the list this year is Gates with $66B, followed by Buffett with 46B. This is very inspirational to me. I like reading about their stories and how they got to where they are. I don’t expect to be on the list, but it motivates me to at least do my best with what I’m given. The combined wealth of these people totals $1.7 trillion, up from $1.5 trillion last year. It makes me wonder how they can continue to get richer yet at the same time still give away billions of dollar every year to charities. But it’s not always good news for the rich. Mark Zuckerberg, the young founder and CEO of the Facebook saw his wealth slashed in half after the Facebook IPO. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if half of my hard earned money were to just disappear, ouch! With a net worth of only around $9 billion dollars now, his ranking in the Forbes list dropped from 14th place to 36th. How will he ever get by now? 😛
Pretty impressive list, hey? That is amazing that they can give away so much of their money, and still have so much left! I wonder if losing half your net worth now is as bad as dropping down to $9bn. Would it hurt as much? 🙂
Thanks for the mention!
Good point, I would take dropping down to $9 billion any day. I’m sure other than a bruised ego he’s doing just fine. Even if Facebook went out of business in the future and he lost all his money, he would probably still be okay because his wife has a medical degree and I’ve heard doctors make pretty good money in the US.
Thanks for the mention. It is pretty crazy how much richer the richest keep getting. I don’t find it all that motivating though. When they’re that rich it doesn’t even seem like a real number. I’m more motivated by someone who attains a more realistic amount of wealth.
True, it probably makes more sense to aim for something more achievable first. Maybe the ultra rich is more of a fascination than a motivation ;D
Thanks for the mention! I think if they didn’t give so much money away, they wouldn’t actually be getting rich so quickly – it’s a massive tax benefit. I’m actually surprised Gates is higher than Buffet!
Ah yes, the tax breaks for the rich are plenty. I’ve heard Romney only paid an effective tax rate of 14% last year because he gave a lot away to charity.
I believe it was the other way around, his rate at 14% was higher than it should have been as he didn’t deduct the full charitable donations
Thanks for the mention. Very crazy how the rich get richer. I can see it, though, with dividends and other investments. I see my income increasing every month, and some months I’m not doing a thing to contribute to the portfolio.
I think you’re right about Romney and his tax bracket.
I love how scalable the economics are comparing the ultra wealthy and normal people like us. We all live in the same world, sharing the same resources, with access to the same capital markets. Your example is very telling of how we can increase our incomes without contributing any work lol. We may never see our net worths reach $1B, but I bet most people in Canada and the US can get theirs to $1M if they really tried. Instead of making $40M a year in dividends, we’ll be making $40K a year, which isn’t bad actually, and a good supplement to some active income.
The whole super rich thing just seems so far removed from (my) everyday reality it makes no sense.
Beyond a certain amount of money I can’t see it really makes such a difference. I mean you can only drive one car at a time, sleep in one bed and so on. These people should be giving their money away, because frankly, they’re never going to spend it in their own lifetime anyway.
You’re right. Time waits for no one. If I were one of the super rich, I would get all my rich friends to pool our money together to employ all the smartest scientists in the world to try and develop an elixir that stops us from aging :D.
It is really hard to become a billion. I would be happy to just be a millionaire one day.